The Third Stackhouse
by MinAlskare
Summary: Sookie is in for a big surprise when a sister she never knew she had rolls into town. And will this mysterious sister bring trouble in her wake? Eric/Sookie Pam/OC  Imperfect timeline, AU. Rated M for future chapters.


**The Third Stackhouse**

**A/N: So this is not my first fanfiction, but it is my first SVM fanfiction. It's definitely AU and there's a little bit of imperfect timeline going on. I'll try not to make the characters too OOC. **

**Disclaimer: All characters, with the exception of my OC, Diana, are the property of Charlaine Harris. I'm just borrowing them and playing for a while.**

I blinked in shock, not saying anything. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be saying. I had a sister? I just kept getting blind-sided by the amount of infidelity among my family members. First Gran with Fintan, then Dad with whoever the fuck he cheated on Mom with. He must have cheated because the girl claiming to be my sister was at least two or three years younger than I was.

I looked at my newly discovered relative sitting across the table from me in my sun-drenched kitchen. We were opposites in almost every way. Where my hair was blonde and sun-kissed, hers was a deep, rich brown. If my eyes were as blue as the clear sky, hers were the green-brown of trees and soil and grass. It was mid-August, and my tan was at its deepest brown from frequent sun-bathing over the course of the summer. Her skin was as white as a lily, as though she spent all her time indoors. She almost looked like a vampire, she was that pale; but she glowed with health, not the slightly sickly pallor of the undead.

"Sookie?" Diana called to me, her dark brows drawn together in concern.

"Sorry. It's just... I had no idea I had any more kin left at all (_human kin_, I amended in my head), let alone a sister."

_Half-sister_, Diana reminded me in her mind. "I always knew I was adopted," she admitted out loud. "I just didn't know who my birth parents were until a couple weeks ago. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. But I'm an adult now and I thought now was as good a time as any to get in touch with them."

I could hear from her head how disappointed she was that she never got to meet either of her biological parents. Our father had died when she was only 5 and her mother had apparently died even before that. Her adopted parents had died just a year ago in a fire. I felt so bad for her.

"I'm not looking for your sympathy," she said with a slight frown. I wondered if my emotions were that easy to read on my face. _Not so much on your face as in your mind_, she thought at me as her lips curled up in a strange little smile-smirk hybrid.

If I was shocked when she told me we were related, then I was completely flabbergasted to learn that she could read minds, too. I guess we really were related!

"Wow," I breathed. "Another telepath in the family."

"Who else, besides the two of us?" she wondered aloud.

"Our cousin Hadley had a son who has shown symptoms of the disability," I told her. "No one else, though."

Diana's very expressive eyebrows drew together as her lips turned down ever so slightly in a tiny frown. "Disability?" she asked. "How could you think of our remarkable gift as a disability?"

I let out a little scoff. "You _like _hearing all the perverted, disgusting thoughts running through the minds of 'respectable' people? You think it's a gift to hear the hateful, mean-spirited thoughts of people who are supposed to be your friends?" I shook my head. "For me, it's been awful living with this 'gift'."

"I guess I see what you mean. It was a little hard at first for me, too. I'm not sure how, but I developed a sort of filter towards the beginning of high school, though. To keep the really filthy stuff out, you know? And with enough practice, I learned to shut everything out except for when I want to hear what people are thinking."

I was a little surprised. She was younger than I was, but she had a better control of her telepathy. I told her as much, admitting that I still struggled with blocking out the thoughts of the people around me.

Diana smiled a little. "I grew up in a much larger city than Bon Temps. It was... a necessity. And dealing with the huge crowds of the city, and especially the close proximity of the rather large population of my high school, has made it even easier to control my gift in more isolated areas like this one."

"How much have you actually developed your mind-reading? Is it like a live broadcast radio for you or can you read dormant thoughts and memories, too? Can you hear supernaturals? Vampires?" I was really curious. The only other adult telepath I'd met was Barry, and he hadn't had very much control over his talent.

"I can read anyone. Some are harder than others. Vampires are hardest, and if they realize I am listening in, they can usually shut me out. Wh-what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I guess my panic was written all over my face. "Diana, you can never tell any vampires that you can hear their thoughts. That would be so... bad." Not my most eloquent moment. But I couldn't conjure up just the right words to let her know just how disastrous it would be if one of the undead realized their thoughts were not hidden from Diana.

She lifted one of those oh-so-expressive eyebrows. "Why? There are already quite a few vampires who know I can hear them."

Shock after shock. "And they haven't tried to kill you?"

She shook her head, her long, shiny, dark hair rippling sensuously with the movement. "I have this weird effect on vampires. It's not a glamour exactly... but it's like they're all enamoured of me and the thought of hurting me doesn't even occur to them."

_Could that be because of the fairy blood?_ I wondered. _But it never stopped vampires from wanting to hurt me._

"Fairy blood? What the hell?"

"Oh. Umm... right. Our father was a quarter fairy. Our great-grandfather is the fairy prince Niall Brigant."

Diana let out a breath that was the weirdest mixture of a sigh and a 'pft' sound. "Life is so _weird_."

I laughed. "You're telling me." I looked over at the clock on the stove. It was already 4 o'clock. I stood up from the table and she followed my lead. "Look, Diana. I have the evening shift at the local bar, Merlotte's, tonight. You're free to come with me or stay here. In fact, where are you staying while you're in town? How long with you be in town? Do you need a place to stay?"

Diana held her hands up in the gesture for 'one question at a time, please'. "I don't know how long I'll be here. I wasn't sure how well I'd be received, and by whom. I haven't made any definite plans. I should probably book a room at a motel or something."

"No, no. We may not know one another very well yet, but you're family. You're more than welcome to stay here with me. I have a spare bedroom you can use for as long as you need it," I offered with the best sisterly smile I could manage.

Her eyes began to well up with tears. I was quite taken aback. All throughout our little conversation, she never once got emotional. Now moisture was gathering in glistening little beads, clinging to her eyelashes and threatening to splash down her cheeks. "I would love to stay with you, Sookie!" she exclaimed, moving towards me and enveloping me in a hug before I could even really process the action. I wrapped my arms around her and gave a little squeeze before pulling away.

"I've got to get dressed for work. Did you want to come? You could get some dinner and meet some of the other townsfolk. Including our brother, Jason, assuming he comes in tonight. And he probably will."

"Yeah, I'd love to come! I'll get changed, too."

I wanted to tell her not to bother, that what she had on was fine. But truth be told, she was a little over-dressed for Merlotte's. She'd come to the old farmhouse dressed to impress, wanting to make a good first impression. Her light gray pencil skirt and plum colored silk blouse, while very flattering on a woman with the coloring of Snow White, were a bit formal for a bar.

"Sure," I responded. "It's a pretty casual place. Jeans, t-shirt. You know." She nodded her understanding before going out to get a small duffel bag out of her car. I showed her to the downstairs guest room before going to my own room to get ready.

I had just brushed my hair into a neat ponytail and was starting to apply a little mascara to my lashes when it hit me. I was about to take my _sister_ to Merlotte's. Jason had no idea. I wondered if he'd make a scene. If he'd be glad to meet Diana. If he'd care at all. And I wondered what Sam and the patrons of the bar would make of her. It seemed like every other week, I was causing some sort of uproar at Sam's bar, even if most of the time it was indirectly. And here I was, about to bring a long lost sister with me to work. Like the gossips of Bon Temps needed another thing to whisper about behind my back.

I sighed and steeled myself for a long and potentially very uncomfortable night.

**A/N: I hope people don't think this is too dumb. **

**In the next chapter, we'll have the reactions of Sam, Jason, and our other favorite Bon Temps residents to the 3rd Stackhouse. Along with Diana's introduction to the Fangtasia crowd.**


End file.
